Bullet journal vs Notion, which one should you use?

 When your life gets hectic, you need a way to organize it. Both bullet journaling and Notion are getting more and more popular every day. Both are very effective methods to organize your life. Both have their pros and cons. But which one should YOU use? Let’s find out!

Bullet journaling

A bullet journal is a mix of a daily/weekly/monthly planner, to-do list, diary, bucket lists, trackers, and many more things you want to keep track of in your life. Even though there are digital bullet journals, most people start by using a traditional analog bullet journal.

Pros:

1. You can customize it in any way you want - An analog bullet journal gives you the flexibility to add almost anything that fits into the book. For example, a doodler can use this as a planner AND to doodle, basically killing two birds in one stone.

2. It keeps everything you need in one place - You can use your bullet journal for habit tracking, daily planning, monthly planning, project planning, grade tracking, and many more things. You have everything compressed into just one notebook. In fact, this is an advantage of both bullet journaling and Notion.

3. It brings out your creativity - Bullet journals are famous as a place people can project their inner creativity. As I mentioned above, if you’re creative and want someplace to draw, scrapbook, or doodle you should try bullet journaling.

4. It’s fun! - Bullet journaling can be very enjoyable and relaxing! As someone who used a bullet journal for 3+ years, it helped me relax after a long day. Getting your pens and pencils out and just making a simple spread can be very therapeutic and pleasant.

Cons:

1. It can be time-consuming - Since you can’t “copy and paste” tables and calendars, writing everything by hand can be very time-consuming. Unless you have calendar stickers and a printer to print out ready-made templates, this can be a drawback of this method.

2. It can be hard to maintain - As you’ll always have to carry a notebook and a pen, updating the bullet journal might not be ideal at all times.

3. It can be expensive - Unless you have a big book or tiny handwriting, you will most likely have to replace your bullet journal at least every year. To some people, this might feel like a waste of money.

4. You will have only one copy - Unless you want to make a whole new book with the same spreads and information, you’re going to have just one copy of your bullet journal, unlike with Notion, where you can simply duplicate your pages with just one click

5. There's a pressure to be aesthetic - There are plenty of posts on various social media about bullet journaling. Most of these bullet journals look very pretty and neat. That might make you feel disappointed in your own bullet journal. You might start feeling insecure about your talents. Even though the main purpose of the bullet journal is to be effective rather than aesthetic, this is also unavoidable, especially if you’re looking for inspiration online. You might feel pressured to make your bullet journal more “aesthetic”. So you might spend more time on it, which brings us to our first con: it can be time-consuming. You might also be pressure to buy nice pens, highlighters, markers, and other stationery to make your bullet journal prettier, which can be expensive.

Notion

Notion is an app that was found in 2018. It’s an app where you can create “pages” with tables, trackers, to-do lists, and many more. You can even embed images, blocks of code, and even Spotify playlists. Even though it can be a bit confusing at first, Notion is a great organizational platform.

Pros: 

1. You don’t have to create a new workspace every year/month/week - With Notion, you can use the same workspace every year, the same calendar every month, or even the same to-do list every day (which is what I do). You just have to delete the data (or make a template that you can duplicate every year/month/week/day)

2. You can use it from any device, anywhere, any time - You don’t have to have the original device you created the workspace with to access it. You can access Notion with almost every device with an internet connection. This is a huge advantage of this method, as you don’t have to go for extra trouble carrying a notebook everywhere. 

3. You don’t have to be exceptionally creative - Notion doesn’t rely much on creativity. Yes, you can have a very creative workspace if you’re determined enough. But most Notion users aim for efficiency rather than creativity. The pressure to be aesthetic is rarely seen in the Notion community compared to the bullet journal community.

4. It’s less expensive - If you’re using the free version, it’s completely free! Even though the premium version does offer more features, the free version is more than enough for your day-to-day planning.

5. You can use it to take school notes as well - You can use Notion for just more than planning. Since there’s no limit to the number of pages, you can even take your school notes using Notion. This brings a whole new meaning to having everything in one place!

6. It’s less time-consuming - Since you can copy and paste tables, calendars, and even whole pages, you don’t have to go to the trouble of making multiple copies of the same thing. Just one click, and it’s done!

Cons:

1. There’s no backup - This is the major drawback of this method. One mistake and you might lose your data! Though you can restore your account, you might feel skeptical as there is a chance that you might not have access to your data for a few days.

2. You’ll need an internet connection - Notion doesn’t have a proper offline version with all the features of the online version. For example, you can't load pages with your offline version. If you want to use Notion offline, you’ll have to preload the pages beforehand. To create a workspace itself, you need an internet connection, which might be a drawback for some people.

3. You can’t be very aesthetic - If you want to be very creative, I would not recommend Notion. Traditional bullet journaling gives you more freedom to be creative. You won’t be restricted just to the features of the platform.

4. It has too many features - Notion has quite a lot of features. Some of them can be quite complex for a beginner. Even though you don’t have to use all of them, these might be overwhelming as you can't just filter out the features you want.

5. You can’t draw by hand - For a doodler, Notion might not be the ideal choice. Even though there is a feature to draw on Notion, it can be quite challenging, especially since you'll be using a digital device (particularly a laptop or a desktop). To some people, the traditional pen and paper might feel better for drawing.

Now, I’ve used both of these methods. Bullet journaling was a great experience. With my notebook and pen, I discovered my inner creativity and was able to wind down for the day. Bullet journaling is great for beginners as there are a lot of how-to videos online. But since I discovered Notion, I felt like it would be a better option for me. But I couldn’t get used to it right away. I installed and uninstalled the app several times, and in the end, I decided to use both Notion and my bullet journal until I could get used to it. I found Notion so much easier to update and less time-consuming compared to bullet journaling.

For a busier person, someone who wants a minimalistic organization system, Notion is the better option. But if you want more freedom to be creative, I recommend bullet journaling. If you wish to switch from one to the other, definitely use both until you get used to the new system. 

With that, I hope you'll be able to make the perfect planner for yourself. Happy organizing!